All posts by CPNN Coordinator

About CPNN Coordinator

Dr David Adams is the coordinator of the Culture of Peace News Network. He retired in 2001 from UNESCO where he was the Director of the Unit for the International Year for the Culture of Peace, proclaimed for the Year 2000 by the United Nations General Assembly.

Ecuador: Hip-hop and urban art are reaffirmed as a ‘culture of peace’ at a festival in Garza Roja

EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

An article from El Universo (translation by CPNN)

Given that the hip-hop movement and its cultural values ​​are growing in Ecuador, thanks to the various initiatives of artists, managers, communicators and activists, this Saturday, May 21, the first meeting of local urban art and culture will be held, called Hip-hop to the Garza.


The event is rooted in the Hip-Hop Peace Declaration, which Temple of Hip Hop, Ribbons International, UNESCO and 300 pioneering hip hop culture activists signed in May 2001. The declaration recognizes the movement as a culture of peace, personal development and international prosperity at the service of communities. The movement fights against the realities of inequity and social inequality in society and governments. It is celebrated annually in the month of May.

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(Click here for the original Spanish version of this article.)

Question for this article:

Do the arts create a basis for a culture of peace?

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This year the initiative is a development of the groups Música en Casa, Casa Impro, Wide Mixer and the Garza Roja Cultural Foundation.

“Most of the urban areas in Guayaquil are engaged in the urban culture of hip hop. We want to show that urban culture not only encompasses singers, graffiti artists, but also many people who make other types of art, and that is why this event is important so that all these actors can also get to know each other and that the public can identify with them”, explains Sara Arana, the Rap Lawyer and spokesperson for the meeting.

“We don’t need to sing rap or dress in a stereotyped way, we live urban art every day”.

The festival is projected as an outdoor urban experience with the four elements of hip hop: the MC (master of ceremonies), the DJ (beats), break dance and graffiti. It includes comedy, poetry, circus arts, cultural endeavors and freestyle, with special guests such as Junox Mc, A2H+, De Jota El Máximo Exponente, Las Ratas, Juliana Solís, Lucky Luciano, Dj Mandy, La Abogada del Rap. Graffiti artists like Kamikaze Mc, from Quito and representing female power, Hans Knopf from Guayaquil and more than 20 artists on stage.

It is a family event and suitable for all audiences, and will take place in the facilities of the Garza Roja Cultural Park (km 37 via Daule – Nobol), from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Admission is free, with prior registration.

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Latin America

Brazil: The culture of peace and non-violence is the theme of the III Graffiti Festival

. EDUCATION FOR PEACE . .

An article from Dourado News (translation by CPNN)

From April 25 to June 12, 2022, UFGD (Federal University of Grande Dourados) will receive applications from artists interested in participating in the third edition of the Graffiti Festival, which will have the theme “The culture of peace and non-violence”, part of Goal 4.7 (Sustainable Development Goals – ODS 16) of the United Nations (UN) 2030 agenda. Objective 16 includes the pillars for the promotion of a culture of peace such as: disarmament, human rights, solidarity, respect, tolerance, the right to be and belong, sustainable development, gender equality and democratic participation.


From the 2017 edition: painted graffiti on the walls of Unit 1 – Credit: Divulgação

The University will select five artistic interventions with this theme, two in the national category and three in the regional category, with prizes of R$ 5 thousand and R$ 3.3 thousand, respectively. For each selected intervention, a space of 10 meters in length by 1.94 meters in height will be allocated. In return, the award-winning artists will offer a free workshop to the community.

(click here for the article in Portuguese.).)

Question related to this article:

Do the arts create a basis for a culture of peace?

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The graffiti will be carried out on the walls of UFGD, from August 24th to 27th, during the III Graffiti Festival event. The workshops will be held at a place, day, time and public service defined by the artist and by the Culture Coordination.

The application form is available at: https://forms.gle/hz2ntCV6oSziPb5J8. Among the documents that candidates must attach in the form are: project containing identification, conceptual text and techniques to be used; sketch in digital format, in color A4 size, of the “artistic intervention” project; resume; artistic portfolio; proposal of the workshop to be given and; Declaration of Assignment of Copyright and Patrimonial Rights. To enter, you must be over 18 years of age. UFGD servers are prevented from submitting proposals.

According to the schedule, after the application and candidate selection phase, the preliminary result will be released on July 5th and the final result on July 22nd, with deadlines for appeal at each stage.

Regarding the costs of participation, UFGD will not be responsible for the transportation, accommodation and food of the selected artist/group. Nor will it be responsible for the materials used for the interventions and workshops, the expenses being the responsibility of the winners.

The announcement of the III Graffiti Festival of UFGD can be accessed at: https://editais.ufgd.edu.br/processo/420/PROEX.

Additional information can be obtained from the Culture Coordination of the Dean of Extension and Culture (COC/PROEX) by e-mail at cultura@ufgd.edu.br.

EDUCATION FOR PEACE, Latin America

Brazil’s Lula proposes creating Latin American currency to ‘be freed of US dollar’ dependency

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An article by Benjamin Norton in Multipolarista

Brazil’s left-wing leader Lula da Silva has proposed creating a pan-Latin American currency, in order to “be freed of the dollar.”

A founder of Brazil’s Workers’ Party, Lula served as president for two terms, from 2003 to 2011. He is now the leading candidate as Brazil’s October 2022 presidential elections approach.

If he returns to the presidency, “We are going to create a currency in Latin America, because we can’t keep depending on the dollar,” Lula said in a speech at a rally on May 2.

He revealed that the currency would be called the Sur, which means “South” in Spanish.

Lula explained that countries in Latin America could still keep their sovereign domestic currency, but they could use the Sur to do bilateral trade with each other, instead of having to exchange for US dollars.

The Sur could also help to contain inflation in the region, Lula argued.

Lula said the goal of the currency would be to deepen Latin American integration and strengthen the region’s economic sovereignty, weakening its dependence on the United States.

Under Brazil’s current government, led by far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro, the South American giant has subordinated itself to Washington, while viciously attacking the left-wing governments in the region.

Bolsonaro’s Brazil has refused to recognize the legitimacy of the leftist Chavista government in its neighbor Venezuela, and has even supported violent cross-border terrorist attacks against it.

If he returns to the presidency, Lula pledged that Brazil “will strengthen its relations with Latin America.”

Lula has also vowed to revive the BRICS system, integrating Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa in an independent economic architecture to challenge Western financial hegemony.

In 2020, Lula published a call “For a Multipolar World.” He explained his goal is “the creation of a multipolar world, free from unilateral hegemony and from sterile bipolar confrontation,” that “would permit a true re-founding of the multilateral order, based on principles of real multilateralism, in which international cooperation can truly flourish.”

(article continued in right column)

(Click here for the Spanish version)

Questions related to this article:
 
Can Latin America free itself from US domination?

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Hugo Chávez’s attempt to create a pan-Latin America currency, the Sucre

Lula’s proposal for the Sur is certainly not the first time progressive politicians in Latin America have tried to create a common currency. This has long been a dream of left-wing leaders in the region.

Venezuela’s revolutionary former president Hugo Chávez developed an international currency as part of the Bolivarian Alliance (ALBA), an economic coalition of left-wing governments in Latin America and the Caribbean.

This currency was called the Sucre, and was adopted in 2009 by Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba, Bolivia, and Ecuador.

Sucre was an acronym for “Unified System for Regional Compensation,” but also a reference to Antonio José de Sucre, who helped lead the South American independence struggle against Spanish colonialism, alongside Simón Bolívar.

Ecuador’s government, under leftist President Rafael Correa, who has a Ph.D. in economics, was the main adopter of the Sucre.

At its peak in 2012, the Sucre was used for more than $1 billion in bilateral annual trade in the region.

But the currency fell out of use by 2016, following Chávez’s death in 2013, a massive drop in commodity prices in 2014, the imposition of US sanctions on Venezuela in 2015, and violent coup attempts against Chávez’s successor Nicolás Maduro.

Ecuador’s subsequent right-wing President Lenín Moreno, with US backing, later removed his country from the ALBA, dealing a huge blow to the Sucre and dreams of regional integration.

Lula leads polls for Brazil’s 2022 elections, following US-backed judicial coup

Brazil’s presidential elections will be held in October 2022.

Polls consistently show Lula leading over far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s sitting president.

Bolsonaro only came to power in the 2018 elections due to a soft coup d’etat backed by the United States.

Lula had been significantly ahead in the polls in the lead-up to the 2018 vote, but Brazil’s judicial system imprisoned him on false charges, handing the victory to Bolsonaro.

The US Justice Department helped support this campaign of what Lula calls legal warfare, or lawfare, to prevent him from returning to the presidency.

The US government also backed the 2016 political coup against Brazil’s democratically President Dilma Rousseff, also a member of Lula’s left-wing Workers’ Party.

The UN Human Rights Committee found this April that the prosecution of Lula was politically motivated and violated his rights.

“The investigation and prosecution of former President Lula da Silva violated his right to be tried by an impartial tribunal, his right to privacy and his political rights,” the UN legal experts determined.

Latin America, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

UNAOC Announces Call for Applications for the 2022 Edition of its Fellowship Programme

. TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY .

An announcement from the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations

The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) is pleased to launch the Call for Applications for the 2022 edition of its Fellowship Programme. The Call is open to participants between 25 to 35 years old, from the Middle East, North Africa, Europe and North America, with a strong interest in intercultural exchanges and intercultural cooperation to challenge and deconstruct hate speech and stereotypes.

The theme of the Fellowship 2022 is “Countering discrimination and racism: the nexus to building pluralistic and diverse societies”. The choice of the theme stems from UNAOC’s core mandate of tackling racism and discrimination and finding ways to addressing root causes of polarization within and between societies.

The context of the current global challenges is more complex than ever before. Recent years have witnessed the rise of discrimination against various groups and hate crimes targeting vulnerable populations, further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic which revealed that no society is spared. Growing intolerance, xenophobia, discrimination, and hate speech pose an enormous threat to international peace and security. Peace is the central promise of the Charter of the United Nations and one of the principal global public goods the United Nations was established to deliver (Our Common Agenda, The report of the Secretary-General). Thus, investing in prevention and peacebuilding is paramount to building pluralistic and diverse societies.

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Question related to this article:
 
Youth initiatives for a culture of peace, How can we ensure they get the attention and funding they deserve?

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Discrimination and racism take many forms and impact all aspects of life. All of these can hinder the efforts of the international community to meet the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. The 2022 Fellowship Programme is designed to provide an excellent platform to build bridges across cultures, borders and beliefs and thus contribute towards achieving the Agenda 2030.

Intercultural dialogue represents an important tool to prevent conflict and build social cohesion, peace and stability. As a mainstay of UNAOC’s work, intercultural dialogue will remain a central focus of the Fellowship agenda with visits and activities aiming at providing participants with crucial comprehension tools to help them understand the plurality and the complexity of their surroundings, and to get an extensive grasp of their host country’s culture, politics, society, religion, media and more.

To be selected, candidates must be able to present professional achievements related to the theme. The Call will lead to the selection of a group of 8 young leaders from Europe, North-America (EUNA) and a group of 8 young leaders from the Middle East and North-Africa (MENA) who will travel together to selected countries in both regions for two weeks.

The goal of the Fellowship is to challenge perceptions and deconstruct stereotypes by providing participants with first hand exposure to cultural diversity. In every country they visit, UNAOC Fellows will interact with a wide range of local stakeholders. Together, they will explore opportunities for intercultural collaboration and exchange ideas and good practices on building pluralistic and diverse societies as a foundation for sustainable peace.

Candidates have until Sunday, 5 June 2022, 11:59 PM EDT to apply.

APPLY AS A EUNA CANDIDATE

APPLY AS A MENA CANDIDATE

Mideast, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY

Palestine: Tears and hope from the last few days

TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY .

A blog by Mazin Qumsiyeh
 · 
A world renowned journalist Shireen AbuAqleh was intentionally murdered by an Israeli sniper in Jenin. Millions of tears were shed for her including ours at the Palestne Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability (palestinenature.org). We planted ten trees in her honor. The constellation of events and circumstances and her background actually were so amazing that it provided a huge dose of sadness but also a big ray of hope for us.

Jenin, where she was murdered, is a center of heroic resistance to occupation (resistance not suported by any government, international or even Palestinian). She was a journalist and wearing protective blue journalist vest and helmet. Thus she mobilized the media. She was beloved by every Palestinian home for her coverage of their daily miseries inflected by foreign occupiers for decades. She was a US Citizen thus exposed by her death the hypocrisy of the Zionist run state department that like with Rachel Corrie and other US citizens killed by Israel (a “special country immune from accountability because of a strong lobby in Washington DC). Her body underwent autopsy in Nablus att a Palestinian Medical School then taken to Ramallah and then to Jerusalem. That she is a Jerusalemite with both her Parents burried there was fortuitous bliss. She was also Christian and all Christian churches in Jerusalem rang their bells. Muslims prayed for her on their holy day in Friday just before she was burried. Millions watched and thousands participated in her burial in Jerusalem on a Friday. Mourners were Christians, Muslims, and conscientious Jews and adorned with Palestinian flags (forbidden by the Israeli occupation forces).

Occupation forces then attacked the funeral including pallbearers of Shireen after they murdered her. Here are the shocking video from different angles
Youtube-1
Youtube-2
Facebook

Initial investigations and human righst statements on the murder of Shireen:
AlHaq investigation
BTselem
Amnesty

The hypocrisy of the west is becoming even more blatant. In the murder of Shireen Aby Aqleh, they simply “call for investigation”. But Shireen was reporter number 49 murdered by occupation forces and certainly Israel murdered tens of thousands of civilians (including American citizens like Rachel Corrie). They always got away with it. Here is what the state department said about a reporter of the same age as Shireen killed in Ukraine: “We are horrified that journalists and filmmakers—noncombatants—have been killed and injured in Ukraine by Kremlin forces. This is yet another gruesome example of the Kremlin’s indiscriminate actions.” They did not call on the Kremlin to “investigate”. Now imagine if they were not hypocritical and said the same thing about Shireen. It would read: “We are horrified that journalists and filmmakers—noncombatants—have been killed and injured in Palestine by Zionist forces. This is yet another gruesome example of the Zionists’ indiscriminate actions.”

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Question for this article

Presenting the Palestinian side of the Middle East, Is it important for a culture of peace?

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We did not hear of sanctions let alone ramping up pressure against the Zionist regime for doing a hundred fold more than Russia did in Ukraine. Like with South Africa, governments supported apartheid, people opposed it and engaged in demanding and putting together programs for boycott, divestments and sanction (BDS – see BDSmovement.net). Western corporate media is also complicit and must be challenged.

How the media failed in their duty to honor one of their own

Meanwhile this same week, the Israeli regime with US government support approved removal of over 1200 people from the homes in South Hebron hills and simultaneously announced thousands of new housing units in illegal colonial settlements in the illegally occupied areas (both violations of international law). The announcement of 4427 new units was done after lengthy negotiations with the US who also was given greenlight from AIPAC to state they oppose them (even though they actually approved and funded them). The EU also produced empty words of opposition while continuing to fund the occupiers/colonizers. Here is what Jewish Voice for Peace (braver tahn all these arab and western governments) said on one incident: “Taking advantage of Palestinians’ grief [over the murder of Shireen], American Jewish settlers took over a Palestinian home in Hebron, known to Palestinians as Al Khalil before its Judaization. This theft of Palestinian homes by foreigners is a feature of Zionism, not a bug. Settlers — and of course their Palestinian victims — are clear on this. ‘We are continuing the Zionist endeavor of redeeming the Land, said Shlomo Levinger, a representative for the settler families said. And by “redeeming the land,” they mean Judaizing it, erasing Palestinians’ history and connection to it, and ethnically cleansing the Palestinians who live on it. To prevent future settler home theft, we must oppose Zionism, which has always required the forced displacement of Palestinians — as both early Zionists and today’s settlers have made explicit.”

Shireen’s voice is amplified by her murder just like Nizar Banat’s murder and just like >110,000 civilians murdered here in Palestine since Zionists arrived from Europe. We must amplify victims’ voices especially in cases like this where the constellation of events are what they are. Shireen was our voice to the world and now we must be her voice. A Jerusalem main street was taken over by its rightful owners – Palestinians with Palestinian flags and sounds of Christian and Muslim prayers. Shireen plby her sacrifice list the road for resistance and resilience. Her coffin, carried by Muslims and Christians, reminded us of what beauty and unity was like in Jerusalem before this horrific gruesome occupation. It was a sign of hope and it is a beacon of courage despite the overtime hasbara/propaganda that spends billions to keep western audiences in teh dark. We must redouble our efforts to end this nightmare and liberate Palestine. The harder we work the quicker this will happen and this in turn saves lives. 23-year old Palestinian Walid Al-Sharif died of wounds sustained two weeks ago in Al-Aqsa mosque by occupation forces who attacked Muslim worshippers. We all must say enough is enough of this. EVERYONE is called upon to act in their capacity to end this nightmare (exposing Western Hypocrisy is just one of many tools)

David Shulman- Israel Prize Winner on South Hebron hills

A great speech by Charlie Chaplain during the heat of the horrible 1940s when Hitler whipped-up hatred in the name of safety for the German people as the Zionist regime does today. Still valid today if people would listen. How much better we would be if Zionists stop regurgitating hate and oppression that was inflicted on hundreds of millions throughout the ages. Listen to these very powerful words

Mideast, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY

World Social Forum 2022 Declaration: Building together a common agenda for another urgent and necessary world

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

An article from Pressenza

The 14th edition of the World Social Forum, which took place in Mexico City, ended on 6 May, coinciding with the commemoration of World Workers’ Day, 1 May.

We publish below in full the final Declaration of the WSF 2022, which calls to build in unity and with urgency, the “another world” that is possible and necessary.


BUILDING TOGETHER A COMMON AGENDA FOR ANOTHER URGENT AND NECESSARY WORLD

1- This 14th edition of the WSF 2022 kicked off on Sunday 1st May with a march that coincided with the events to commemorate World Labour Day. The WSF 2022, which took place from 1 to 6 May in Mexico City, is the first international face-to-face and distance (hybrid) meeting since the emergence of Covid in 2019.

2- The pandemic, which continues to cause damage worldwide, did not prevent representatives of associations, collectives and social movements from Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and Europe from meeting in Mexico City.

3- This WSF 2022 had to face obstacles that hindered or prevented the presence of representatives from several countries, especially from Africa and Asia. We denounce the denial of visas to members of delegations from several countries and the prevention by the immigration authorities of several of our colleagues from entering the country.

4- More than 3 thousand participants from autonomous women’s and feminist movements, youth, members of diverse sexualities, trade unionists, communities of native peoples, the social church, environmentalists, anti-racists, the urban movement, the countryside, migrant organisations, and many other social spheres; from more than 30 countries from four continents in 789 workshops and assemblies held in 15 venues in the Historic Centre of Mexico City and from social organisations in more than 50 rooms, patios and auditoriums, in addition to their epicentre in tents in the Plaza de Santo Domingo, invited to reflect, exchange and imagine actions to change the world. The themes included climate, agriculture in respect of the earth, sustainable economy, human rights, feminism, minorities, education, workers’ rights, culture, communication, self-determination of peoples… and so many other topics! It is already certain that this forum will give rise to many collective actions that will be launched without delay.

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(Click here for an article in Spanish)

Question for this article:

World Social Forums, Advancing the Global Movement for a Culture of Peace?

(Article continued from left column)

5- Movements are facing various challenges as a result of the irrational exploitation of natural resources such as water, land and space, which are accelerating climate change, migratory flows, population displacements and with them the destructuring of our societies. This economic, social and cultural violence is a form of permanent warfare to which humanity is subjected, which can only be stopped by a radical change in the system.

6- Governments have used the pandemic to attack democratic freedoms, to promote various restrictions on the rights of the people and, above all, to give unjustified power to the big private laboratories, the first beneficiaries of a universal pandemic caused by the irrational action of capitalism.

7- The dominant policies of austerity and structural adjustment are reaffirmed. Neoliberal arrogance prevails. Destabilisation, wars, violent repression and the instrumentalisation of terrorism are imposed in all regions. Reactionary ideological currents and extreme right-wing populisms are increasingly active.

8- The WSF Mexico 2022 is a step in the construction of a new phase of alterglobalisation. Each phase of alterglobalisation is a response to the dominant logic of capitalism in its neoliberal phase and is based on forms of mobilisation.

9- The WSF 2022 was marked by this global situation, it was more oriented towards resistance. Social and citizens’ movements are aware of the urgency of defining strategic orientations. They affirmed that the need for resistance does not cancel out the contradictions and that all possibilities remain open.

10- This year another form of war has broken out, that of Ukraine, a product of the Russian invasion of that country. Faithful to its origins and to the Charter of Principles, the WFTU denounces this invasion, the death of thousands of civilians and the use of deadly violence, the effects of which are already being felt all over the world. This new scenario of war adds to many others where the peoples are suffering its consequences. Peoples must find the way to build peace.

11. The apartheid of the State of Israel, the war in Syria, Iraq, Mali, Afghanistan and other places between the imperialist world powers is the sublime expression of their pettiness and their clumsy dispute for world hegemony where in the end there will be neither winners nor losers, only desolation and death for our peoples.

12- The stakes at the World Social Forum 2022 were high. In a profoundly contradictory world situation, it allowed us: to redefine an alter-globalisation proposal corresponding to the new situation; to understand the new contradictions of the world system; to start from the movements to resist, to define alternatives, to build a new project of emancipation.

Another world is possible and together we must build it!

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, Latin America,

‘It’s a Fight They’ll Get’: Defenders of Abortion Rights March throughout the United States

. . HUMAN RIGHTS . .

An article by Jon Queally from Common Dreams (licensed under Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0.)

Marches and rallies took place in cities across the United States on Saturday as defenders of reproductive rights vowed to defend the country against a looming decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that would eviscerate protections enshrined in Roe v Wade for nearly half a century.

Scene in Washington D.C.

Under the banner of “Bans Off Our Bodies,” the demonstrations took place in cities large and small but with a shared message.

“If it’s a fight they want, it’s a fight they’ll get,” said Rachel Carmona, executive director of the Women’s March, one of the groups who organized the day of action along with Planned Parenthood, UltraViolet, MoveOn, and others.

Carmona, who participated in the major rally that took place in Washington, D.C., said women and their allies nationwide were marching nationwide “to see an end to the attacks on our bodies,” and vowed, “You can expect for women to be completely ungovernable until this government starts to work for us.”

In Chicago, where thousands also marched, Marj Haleerin of the executive committee of the Indivisible Chicago Alliance, said, “Right now, a minority of lawmakers in Washington are taking away our voice. So we’re here, thousands strong, to use our voice and stand up for what we believe in.”

Betty Linville, a 68-year-old living in Los Angeles, attended the rally in that city and said she remembers a time before Roe. 

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Question related to this article:

Abortion: is it a human right?

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“I have memories of women and men fighting for abortion rights 50 years ago,” Linville told the Los Angeles Times. She explained to the paper her worries that the “incredible freedom” of legal abortion could soon be lost, especially for women who lack the means to travel from a state where it is banned to one where it is allowed.  “What is next?” she said. “What else is going to be taken away?”

Organizers said Saturday’s rallies should be seen as only the beginning of a “Summer of Rage” that will continue through the expected official ruling from the Court in June and into the mid-term elections.

“Today is day one of an uprising to protect abortion rights,” said one speaker at the D.C. rally. “It is day one of our feminist future. And it is day one of a ‘Summer of Rage’ where we will be ungovernable. Ungovernable!”

Check out just some of the demonstrations that took place Saturday.

Washington, D.C.:

Columbia, South Carolina:

New York City:

Chicago:

Portland, Maine:

Boston:

Cleveland:

Austin:

Los Angeles:

Back in New York City—where thousands marched across the Brooklyn Bridge shouting “Hands off our Bodies!” and “We won’t go back!”—Gilda Perkin, an 88-year-old artist who spoke to the New York Daily News said she also recognized the historic significance of the fight ahead.

“I’ve been at this a long time, there’s no going back,” Perkin said. “I’m passionate about this issue and I won’t stop. Women need to be strong and speak. We can’t expect anyone else to fight for us so we have to do it ourselves.”

HUMAN RIGHTS, North America

Children-centered initiative instilling culture of peace in Ecuador community

.. DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION ..

An article by Daniela Brik in La Prensa Latina

A UNESCO initiative is striving to instill a culture of peace and strengthen the social fabric in Tierras Coloradas, a violent crime-racked neighborhood of the southern Ecuadorian city Loja.

And the focus of those efforts is on the community’s children, who are seen as the best hope for a brighter future.


Seated around a kitchen table in front of a tablet computer that rests against a wall, Carla and Jose (fictitious names) listen to a law student on the other side of the screen.

That volunteer has assumed the role of teacher, making sure the children know what homework they need to do and clarifying any doubts they may have.

“One of our volunteers connects (with families) after mothers ask for help via a chat,” Gabriela Moreira, head of the UNESCO Chair of Culture and Education for Peace initiative at the Private Technical University of Loja (UTPL).

Around 3,000 people live in Tierras Coloradas, a Loja suburb, in precarious homes built on land donated decades ago to the Catholic Church.

Although the streets of that hillside community bear the names of saints, it carries the stigma of high levels of domestic violence, social marginalization, crime and drug use. The parish priest has even had to have security cameras installed after being robbed on several occasions.

Studies show households in that community earn an average of between $150 and $400 a month, or less than Ecuador’s legal minimum salary.

(Article continued in right column)

(Click here for an article in Spanish)

Questions for this article:

How important is community development for a culture of peace?

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“It’s a very stigmatized neighborhood. There are people with problems identified by the community. But those who have approached us are people trying to improve their lot in life,” said Santiago Perez, the program’s coordinator.

Around 30 UTPL students and scholarship fellows from Spain’s University of Sevilla have participated in the project since it was launched in 2019, either helping children with their homework or giving talks to mothers and fathers.

Perez stressed the importance of working with parents on “managing conflicts in the home and in the community” to mitigate violence “in spaces where it’s been allowed in.”

University professors and students have gradually won the parents’ trust, visited the local school and health center and spoken with community police to see what steps are needed to extricate the population from pervasive violence and foster a climate of respect and public safety.

Parents were especially concerned about their children’s studies, considering many of these young people are alone in the afternoon or being looked after by siblings, or because they themselves lack the educational background to help their kids with their homework.

“At first, the activities were recreational for children aged three to five. Later they included help with school,” Moreira said. “At times, entire days were spent helping them to do an exercise.”

Mariuxi Jimenez, 29, takes her four children aged three to 14 to Santa Narcisa de Jesus church, where two young psychology and social work graduates teach a workshop to children on emotional regulation and anger management.

“What makes you feel happy?” one instructor asks the kids seated on a church bench while holding up some illustrations.

“My children like these types of talks because they help them with things they don’t understand,” said Jimenez, who agrees with the importance of “promoting peace with them so conflicts are avoided.”

The parish priest, Pablo Bouza, acknowledges that the district has been racked by violence due to “drugs, alcoholism, family problems.”

“Denying that reality would be like burying your head in the sand.”

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, Latin America

War in Ukraine: Statement by the Board of the European Chapter of Mayors for Peace

. . DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION . .

A statement by European Chapter of Mayors for Peace

Representing European local and regional governments committed to defend peace in our cities and towns but also across the continent and the whole world, and following up on the call by the Mayor of Hiroshima and President of the Mayors for Peace network urging for a diplomatic solution to the conflict in Ukraine, we issue the following statement:.

° We urge the Russian government and perpetrators of the current escalation and territorial agression in Ukraine to put an end to hostilities, respect international law and commit to reinvigorated diplomatic efforts: Dialogue, cooperation and diplomacy are the only valid mechanisms to ensure a peaceful resolution to conflict.

(article continued in right column)

(Click here for the French version of this article)

Question related to this article:
 
How can culture of peace be developed at the municipal level?

Can the peace movement help stop the war in the Ukraine?

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° We express our solidarity with all Mayors, local governments and residents who have been suffering and will now suffer more from this war. This show of solidarity is especially addressed to our city-members and friends in both Ukraine and Russia, with whom we share a common desire and goal: to live in a peaceful world. As places where people live, cities and towns are often the territories suffering the most by armed conflict. Wars cause endless suffering and often turn our citizens into refugees and children into orphans.

° We invite parties involved in diplomatic negotiations to go beyond confrontation and listen to these same communities and local leaders. They are not only the parties suffering the most from the war, but can also be instrumental in delivering a truly sustainable and effective peace.

° We recall the risk of a nuclear escalation inherent in the conflict, which would result in catastrophic humanitarian consequences not only for our shared continent but the whole world. We call for respecting the suffering of previous nuclear victims and also the rights of future generations. We emphasize our organization’s stand on this agenda and call for the implementation of the hitherto not fulfulled commitments on nuclear disarmament: nuclear weapons are prohibited, a vision which has already been embraced by a majority of countries in the world.

° We reaffirm our willingness to continue working together with international organisations in the peace movement, civil society and committed states in finding a solution to this conflict. As mayors and local representatives, we are committed to continue showcasing our people’s firm choice in favor of peace and opposition to war.

Inspired by our own local memories and our firm commitment to shout out loud “Never Again War”, let’s work together to prevent and resolve conflicts, to continue building peace and to create safe environments where all our residents can live safely and with full respect to human rights.

The Executive Board Mayors for Peace European Chapter.

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, Europe

World Social Forum: Days 3 and 4

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

Articles from Prensa Latina for day 3 and Prensa Latina for day 4

(Editor’s note: News from the World Social Forum is not published by any main-stream media except that of Cuba. And even worse, as described below, some of the Cuba media is not accessible on the Internet)

The 14th World Social Forum (WSF) on Tuesday enters third day of debates, mainly focused on economic and labor issues, the continuity of gender violence and current affairs.


Among the issues is the international forum Organization of the Workers, Labor Reforms and Trade Union Freedom, sponsored by the New Central Union of Workers (NCT) and the Mexican Electrical Workers Union.

Papers on transformation economies, popular education, solidarity integration and good living in Latin America, and the experience in Colombia, are also on the program of the event.

The issue of gender violence, especially feminicide, will continue in debates with the paper “Decolonial feminist spiritualities in the face of gender violence.”

The New Central Union of Workers will present its criteria on employment in another possible world, in a panel of discussion in which the urgency of overcoming neoliberalism and labor precariousness will be addressed.

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(Click here for articles in Spanish)

Question for this article:

World Social Forums, Advancing the Global Movement for a Culture of Peace?

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The XIV World Social Forum is addressing, on its fourth day of sessions, the central theme Challenges of the new labor realities, as part of the global objective Work in another possible world.

The sessions, which are being held in plenary sessions and commissions at the Palacio de la Minería, in the historic center of Mexico City, began on May 1 and will conclude on May 6, when the venue for the next meeting is to be determined.

Today´s basic theme is presented by the New Workers Central with the co-sponsorship of the Mexican Union of Electricians, and will address, among other aspects, automation, outsourcing, teleworking and platforms.

At the same time there will be a panel within the same section on post-Tpandemic, health and labor, in charge of the same workers’ union.

The activities will be numerous, according to the program, as it includes, among many other presentations and debates on economic alternatives of the peoples and socio-economic justice, and defense of life, environment and territories.

As a topical issue, an exhibition on the elimination of hydrocarbons in Mexico, the Mexican alliance against fracking, as well as democracy, political participation, construction of critical global citizenship and autonomy.

(Editor’s note: The following sources about the World Social Forum are listed in Duckduckgo search engine but not in Google, and they are not accessible on the Internet, at least not in France where I am living: https://cubasi.cu/en/news/mexicoworld-social-forum-addresses-challenges-new-labor-realities and https://www.radiohc.cu/index.php/fr/noticias/internacionales/293776-le-forum-social-mondial-aborde-a-mexico-les-defis-des-nouvelles-realites-du-travail. And the following source, although listed in google, is not accessible: https://www.radioartemisa.icrt.cu/en/international/2022/05/04/mexico-world-social-forum-addresses-challenges-of-new-labor-realities/. Are they being jammed and banned from Google as part of the American Empire information war? Although Prensa Latina continues to be accessible and listed in Google, the latest news is that the United States is blocking visas for Prensa Latina journalists to work at the United Nations.)

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, Latin America